Statewatch: Annotated text of EU Constitution
01 September 2003
For updates please see:
Statewatch's Observatory on EU Constitution
A unique series of annotated texts of the proposed EU Constitution have been prepared for Statewatch by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex. Each of the text is annotated to compare the current Treaties, practice and case law to the proposed Constitution - and in the case of decision-making the present division of powers to those proposed (including new powers).
1.
EU Constitution - Decision-making (pdf)
2.
EU Constitutional annotation no 1: Part I, Draft EU Constitution (pdf)
3.
EU Constitutional annotation no 2: Part III, Title V: EU External policies (pdf)
4.
EU Constitutional annotation no 3: Part III, Title VI, Chapter I, Section 1, Subsection 5: Court of Justice (pdf)
5.
EU Constitutional annotation no 4: Part III, Title IV, Chapter III: Justice and Home Affairs (pdf)
(These analyses are © Statewatch/Steve Peers and of course may be further used/linked to if proper acknowledgement is given)
The proposed EU Constitution is set out in CONV 850/03 (the detailed rules in Part III will supplement the basic rules in Part I):
6. Full-text of proposed EU Constitution:
CONV 850/03 (pdf)
7. Full-text of proposed EU Constitution:
Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (Word format)
8. Full-text from the Official Journal, 105 pages:
Text (link)
9. Commission position on proposed EU Constitution (17.9.03):
Commission (pdf)
10. The new IGC website is on:
IGC
Background note
The EU constitutional Convention was convened in February 2002 and met until July 2003 under the chairmanship of former French President Valery Giscard D'Estaing. It consisted of delegates from national parliaments, the European Parliament, the Commission and EU Member States' governments, including the parliaments and governments of states which have applied to join the EU. Following on from a declaration to the Treaty of Nice and a later declaration agreed by the European Council (summit meeting) in Laeken in December 2001, the Convention had the task of examining the current EU and EC Treaties and suggesting possible changes. It decided to draft an EU Constitution merging the current EU and EC Treaties, based on the existing texts but making a number of important changes.
However, the work of the Convention is not binding. A binding text to amend the existing Treaties will be drawn up by Member States' governements (including the governments of the 10 countries who have signed an Accession Treaty to join the EU in 2004), in an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). This IGC is scheduled to begin in October 2003 and end at the latest in May or June 2004. At the last EU summit meeting (in Thessaloniki, June 2003), it was agreed that the draft Constitution produced by the Convention would be a "good starting point" for the negotiations in the IGC. If the IGC concludes as planned, the final Constitution will have to be approved by national parliaments and national referenda, and so would likley not enter into force until well into 2006.
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